Passengers returning to work for the first time since the Christmas break today branded the above inflation rises “unfair”.

Commuters at St Pancras told of the sacrifices they would have to make to afford the cost.

Sophia Abdallah, 22, said she was forced to take a loan from work to cover the cost of her season ticket from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, which rose 4.2 per cent from £4,512 to £4,700.

The merchandising assistant for Asos, who said she cannot afford to live in London, bought her ticket in December to delay having to pay the increased fare and is paying the loan off in monthly instalments taken from her wages.

She said: “It’s not that far to Harpenden but unfortunately I just can’t afford to live in London.

“The only way I could do it is that my employer agreed to give me a season ticket loan, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to afford it.

“There are a lot of delays. One day before Christmas It took me four hours to get to work,

“For the price they could at least put wi-fi in but they don’t have anything like that . It’s because they know people have to pay it.”

Tom Kenward, 28, a sales manager from St Albans, Hertfordshire, said the cost of commuting is pricing out people on lower incomes.

The sales manager, who currently pays £2,988 a year to travel to St Pancras for work, said: “I will have to buy my ticket in May, it’s rubbish. The service is pretty good though but it’s hard to get a seat.

“For me it makes sense to come to London but if you’re earning below £25,000 I think it’s quite frustrating. It will make a lot of people look outside London.”

Simon Hill, 25, whose ticket from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, has risen from £134 to £145, said the fare rises were “unfair”.

The IT worker said: “It’s gone up every year for the last 10 years above inflation, it’s not a good deal for us commuters on trains so it’s a bit rubbish.

“You don’t really see the benefit to travel, trains are still overcrowded, still late, there’s not any benefit I can see.”

Commuters returning to work today were greeted with travel misery as some Southeastern services to London were cancelled due to train defects.